If L.A. move will happen in 2013, Chargers are the most likely to go

Posted by Mike Florio on June 30, 2012, 6:07 PM EDT

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If the NFL plans to return to Los Angeles in 2013, there’s only one team that can pull it off.

The Chargers.

A comparison of Sam Farmer’s Friday item in the Los Angeles Times regarding Commissioner Roger Goodell’s recent memo on the possibility of a move as soon as 2013 with the NFL’s relocation policy (a copy of which PFT has obtained) with the realities of the various stadium and ownership situations reveals that the San Diego Chargers (who actually spent their initial season in Los Angeles, losing the AFL title game to the Oilers) are the only team that currently can pull off a move by next year.

The Rams can’t leave St. Louis at the earliest until after the 2014 season. The Jaguars must demonstrate three straight years of losses before being able to exit Jacksonville. The Raiders’ lease situation is irrelevant, because (as we’ve previously reported) the league won’t allow them to move to L.A. unless Mark Davis sells controlling interest in the team.

So that leaves the Chargers, who have an annual window to cancel their Qualcomm Stadium lease, from February 1 through April 30, with a buyout that decreases each year. (For 2012, the cost was a mere $23 million, $2 million less than what Jaguars owner Shad Khan would have to pay former owner Wayne Weaver if the Jags move before 2017.)

The Chargers’ three-month escape hatch overlaps by 15 days with the league’s relocation policy, which requires notice of an intention to move to be filed with the league office between January 1 and February 15.

The relocation policy also requires a team that hopes to move “to work diligently and in good faith to obtain and to maintain suitable stadium facilities in their home territories, and to operate in a manner that maximizes fan support in their current home community.” Relocation is appropriate only “[i]f, having diligently engaged in good faith efforts, a club concludes that it cannot obtain a satisfactory resolution of its stadium needs.”

In other words, a team can’t move without showing that it has exhausted all reasonable efforts to stay put.

It won’t be hard for the Chargers to demonstrate that they’ve tried to work things out in their current home. After all, the Commissioner has publicly said that “unfortunately, some sense of a growing impasse and an absence of a sense of urgency” exist regarding efforts to build a new venue in San Diego.

The Commissioner who said that was Paul Tagliabue. The year in which he said it was 2004.

Both oppose using public money to build a new Chargers stadium. DeMaio says that fixing streets and restoring services remains a bigger priority, and Filner doesn’t want to subsidize a billionaire without partial ownership of the team by the city, something that the league would never allow.

So the handwriting is on the wall, San Diego. If any NFL team is going to be in Los Angeles by 2013, it’s the Chargers who will be, well, bolting.

Couldn’t Mark Davis sue the league for preventing him to move to Los Angeles if he struck a deal in principle with a guy like Ed Roski or if Anschutz or Leiweike brought themselves to their senses at AEG???

Mark is not as controversial as his father and he seems to be the antithesis. I love Al Davis, but how can the owners treat Mark so disrespectfully when the poor relationship with other owners was more on Al’s part???

If Mark Davis has a bad stadium deal in Oakland, but the league will not let them move I hope he sues because owners should be allowed the right to do what is best for their franchises. Plus, if the 49ers and Raiders are no longer going to have preseason games together because of the incident that took place in August 2011 how in the hell can they share a stadium???

I’m not saying the Rams are the most likely team to move, but if this whole stadium arbitration goes the team’s way and they CAN opt out after 2014, why would the city force them to stay when they could take a hefty buyout and try to recoup some of the massive loan they are STILL paying on from bringing the team to St Louis in ’95?

It’s laughable to think that a team will be in L.A. this time next year.

As with any major development in CA, it will take years to go through the red tape and lawsuits. Petco Park opened a couple years late due to such problems.

The NFL may be a very powerful organization but they won’t be able to circumvent actions that are brought against a team relocating to L.A. Trust me, there will be no shortage of groups that will try to tie this thing up in court for years.

Here we go again. Anytime someone so much as moves s shovel in Los Angeles, some hack dusts off the Chargers are moving story, and changes a few words. This same story has been written for how many years now?

I finally read the letter the commisioner sent out to the teams. When he had to state that no one team has the right to the LA market, he confirmed right there that one team does……In other words c-ya in court again Roger…..seems like that is where this commisioner likes to be.

Let me explain something to you knuckleheads concerning the Raiders. The league won’t allow them to move unless MD sells the team, because AEG wants a controlling interest in the team (probably Roski too). MD is on record saying he has no interest in selling, so there you are. It’s that simple.

AEG wants to call the shots as a majority owner if its going to pony up the kind of money needed to get the stadium built. Well, good luck. Maybe one of the other owners will, but Davis isn’t interested in that.

Also, the Raiders belong in Oakland. The Raiders were born and forged their identity in Oakland, not LA. Let’s also do the math. The team has been in Oakland 38 years as opposed to 14 in LA. Yeah, you Angelinos can keep hoping the Raiders come back to LA. Sorry, keep making the 30 minute plane ride or start rooting for the Chargers.

funny to read that the raiders need to get approval for a market that they already paid the NFL the rights for….can’t wait for the courtroom where the raiders will prevail, and the whole anti trust will come full surface if the NFL trys to block anything the raiders do.

It’s laughable to think that a team will be in L.A. this time next year.

As with any major development in CA, it will take years to go through the red tape and lawsuits. Petco Park opened a couple years late due to such problems.

The NFL may be a very powerful organization but they won’t be able to circumvent actions that are brought against a team relocating to L.A. Trust me, there will be no shortage of groups that will try to tie this thing up in court for years.

A team will eventually be in L.A. again but it won’t be in 2013.

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What’s laughable is your ignorance on the subject. The stadium plans have already cleared the red tape and jumped over all the hurdles. They’re ready to start, they just need a team to confirm before they do so.

Why put a team in L.A.? They have already proved a number of times the community won’t support it. As a Vikings fan, I hope that no city loses their football team. If they want to add a team or teams, find a way to do it by expansion.

This is for the person who wrote about putting the Chargers in Orange County and getting revenue from LA ,Orange County and San Diego. Speaking as a Charger fan; ” I WOULD NOT, let me repeat that, WOULD NOT, be a Charger fan if they leave San Diego. I don’t see how you fans can still be a fan of a team that pretty much spits in your face and leaves your city. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only Charger fan who feels that way.

Chargers aint moving, they had sell outs for the past 10 years, LA lost two teams due to stupidity, why so desperate to bring a team to LA?? I dont get it, and why the chargers, the’re financially stable..

Chargers won’t leave San Diego. The city of San Diego will get a stadium built before LA has the chance to swipe them from us. It will go to a vote in 2013 and I’m confident it will pass county wide. Find someone else LA.